Michelle's Book Club

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

The format of this review will be quite different 'cause if I do it with my usual review format, I'll end up giving it a five in every category! So, I thought I'd just compare it to the movie.

The book gave more detail to Voldemort's past while in the movie, Dumbledore only showed Harry two memories of Voldemort's childhood.
The book told us that Fleur and Bill were to be married.
The book also showed that Bill was attacked by Fenrir.
As far as I can remember, Bellatrix did not attack the Burrow, though I could be wrong.
The movie did not show Grawp in Dumbledore's funeral.
Harry's and Ginny's romance was played up a lot more in the movie.
Lupin and Tonks' romance was better explained in the book. Come to think of it, before reading the book, I had no idea who that girl with the pink hair was in the movie.
Madame Rosmerta being Imperiused was explained in the book and wasn't in the movie.
More emphasis was given to Dumbledore's withered hand as opposed to the movie wherein I recall only seeing it in one scene.
The battle that erupted between the members of the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters wasn't shown in the movie.

So, I'm sure that there were much more discrepancies but I've limited it to ten. Lastly, I would most definitely recommend this and those who haven't read it, you're missing half of your life already!

This is definitely a book that will need all your focus so, definitely a "heavy" read type of thing. :)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Bittersweet Sixteen by Carrie Karasyov & Jill Kargman

Rating:

5: Beyond Explanation

4: Awesome

3: Decent

2: Dislike

1: Hate

0: Abhor

1. Plot: (2/5)

Meh! The plot is very predictable. It's the typical high school conflict story. Cool girl with slightly uncool best friend. New kid comes in and "intrudes". New kid and cool girl fight over a boy, turns out the boy likes slightly uncool best friend. That's the whole story right there. Nothing special, totally typical. Bordering on BLAH!

2. Characters: (2/5)

The characters are the epitome of cliche characters. The lead is a typical blonde hair blue eyed New York type. The new kid is the typical L.A. skinny big boobs type. Even their male counterparts are cliche. The jock type, the prom king type. They went all out in terms of stereotypes.

3. Setting: (1/5)

Again, typical setting. Rich kids living in the Upper East Side. Need I say more? I rated this "hate" because it was bordering on unbelievable. I mean, I find it hard to believe that an all-girls' private school make their 15 year old students draw nude models for art class.

4. Story: (1/5)

Again, I gave it a "hate" because, first of all, the substance-lacking-and-borderline-unbelievable name droppings. Some of it is just unrealistic. But it's not just the name dropping that's unrealistic. In the story, they had to set up the best Sweet Sixteen birthday party. The party that ended up happening in the end was too good to be true, literally.

5. Writing: (3/5)

The way of writing amused me. For instance, "unfortunately" became "unforch" and "awkward" became "awky". This was the only aspect in the book that, to me, seemed realistic.

6. Ending: (1/5)

P.R.E.D.I.C.T.A.B.L.E. What's more, after the cool girl and the new kid fight, they immediately just patched things up. That doesn't happen in the real world.

OVERALL RATING: 2/5

WOULD I RECOMMEND?: Yes & No

Despite the low ratings that I gave above, this book still amused me because I still am a sucker for any chic lit. Any at all. So, if you're a sucker for anything chic lit, then you can get this is you just happen to see it in your bookstore. It is nothing worth seeking out. But if you're looking for a book with substance, I would recommend that you give this a pass.

CLASSIFICATION:

I would classify this as a beach-type book. A light read that doesn't need your undivided attention.

Price: Php 320 at Fully Booked